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AMD Enters SSD Market in Partnership with OCZ

By - Source: Tom's Hardware US | B 39 comments
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AMD makes an entry to the SSD market with its Radeon R7-branded SSDs.

After making CPUs and GPUs for a long time, AMD also entered the memory market with its Radeon Memory back in 2011. Now, the company is invading the storage market with a line of Radeon-branded SSDs. The new Radeon R7 series SSDs are built by OCZ and are made with Toshiba-built MLC NAND flash.

Also, rather than making the Radeon R7 SSDs a whole new product line, AMD has positioned the SSDs to fit in the OCZ product stack. The Vector 150 Series SSDs are workstation drives for professionals, the Radeon R7 series SSDs are for gamers and the Vertex 460 series are aimed at mainstre users.

The Controller aboard the Radeon R7 SSDs is a Barefoot 3 M00 controller, which in conjunction with the 19 nm Toshiba MLC flash will let it read at speeds of up to 550 MB/s and write at up to 530 MB/s. Endurance of the SSDs is rated at 30 GB per day written.

Capacities will initially range from 120 GB to 480 GB, with the 120 GB model priced at $99.99 MSRP.

It's worth noting that this SSD is not only Rade-branded, but also specifically R7. This leads us to believe that there might be an R9 series SSD in the works, or at least on the agenda.

Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

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Top Comments
  • 12 Hide
    redgarl , August 19, 2014 11:41 AM
    Simply... why, sometime I am asking myself the question. I love AMD but there is no gain of putting an AMD sticker on OEMs.
Other Comments
  • 7 Hide
    red77star , August 19, 2014 11:34 AM
    Wow that is weird. Looks like AMD might be selling their own computers since they make everything to put together such. CPU, motherboard, GPU, Memory, SSD.
  • -9 Hide
    TechyInAZ , August 19, 2014 11:40 AM
    Interesting, are they doing this because they are loosing the CPU battle?
  • Add your comment Display all 39 comments.
  • 12 Hide
    redgarl , August 19, 2014 11:41 AM
    Simply... why, sometime I am asking myself the question. I love AMD but there is no gain of putting an AMD sticker on OEMs.
  • -3 Hide
    Gam3r01 , August 19, 2014 11:43 AM
    Though I'm not crazy about the logo slapped into the middle, it would likely be hidden in a drive bay anyway, I do like the overall pattern on it.
    Honestly dont know too much about SSDs, do I dont know how quality the drive itself is, like the looks though.
  • 0 Hide
    Shneiky , August 19, 2014 11:47 AM
    I feel so bad about the ATI guys. Back in the old days, Radeon was a name to be proud of. Radeon RAM, Radeon SSD, what is next? Radeon "Gaming" snacks and "Radeon Peanuts - Gamer's performance edition"....
  • 3 Hide
    Gam3r01 , August 19, 2014 11:47 AM
    Quote:
    I feel so bad about the ATI guys. Back in the old days, Radeon was a name to be proud of. Radeon RAM, Radeon SSD, what is next? Radeon "Gaming" snacks and "Radeon Peanuts - Gamer's performance edition"....


    If the snacks are cheap I would buy them...
    In all honesty though I agree with you, though I would like cheap food.
  • 8 Hide
    Darth_Kaar , August 19, 2014 11:52 AM
    I like the idea that AMD is trying to diversify its offer. Especially with good quality designs.
  • -2 Hide
    Junit151 , August 19, 2014 11:58 AM
    If it looks like that render (probz won't) I will pick two up to go in the bottom SSD mounts of my black/red H440. Color schemes FTW.
  • 1 Hide
    dovah-chan , August 19, 2014 12:04 PM
    I saw this on newegg just seconds eariler and soon as I came to toms I'm like wow I didn't notice that on the front page earlier :o 
  • 7 Hide
    The_Icon , August 19, 2014 12:26 PM
    Quote:
    Interesting, are they doing this because they are loosing the CPU battle?


    Maybe they just want to diversify? Even though I use core i5 myself, I saw my friend's AMD CPU built computer and it is no slouch and didn't cost as much as mine did.
  • 0 Hide
    srap , August 19, 2014 12:26 PM
    Quote:
    I do like the overall pattern on it.

    Me too, it really catches the eye.
    Though, I would have preferred to see them coming out with their own design, leaving the manufacturing to another company (Samsung maybe), instead of plain re-badging.
  • 0 Hide
    Gam3r01 , August 19, 2014 12:49 PM
    Quote:
    Quote:
    I do like the overall pattern on it.

    Me too, it really catches the eye.
    Though, I would have preferred to see them coming out with their own design, leaving the manufacturing to another company (Samsung maybe), instead of plain re-badging.


    Ehh, its a start in the right direction (if such a thing exists) at least.
  • 2 Hide
    BleedingEdgeTek , August 19, 2014 1:24 PM
    At that price you can get a 256GB SSD...
  • 0 Hide
    dovah-chan , August 19, 2014 1:49 PM
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&N=100008120%20%20600038510%20%20600038519%20%20600038506%2050001028&IsNodeId=1
  • 5 Hide
    waethorn , August 19, 2014 1:51 PM
    Knowing that OCZ filed for bankruptcy to avoid mass lawsuits regarding the faulty controllers they put into the entire Vertex line, I doubt I'll ever buy anything affiliated with that company. I bought exactly 3 OCZ SSD's between 2012-2013 and all of them failed.
  • 1 Hide
    dovah-chan , August 19, 2014 1:52 PM
    Really with what AMD is doing for me right now, I'm so thankful for them. I don't believe how helpful they are. In my opinion, they really do care about us 'gamers' and aren't just in to take over any market they can get their hands on like most other companies. If you want any more info on what they're helping me with pm me. It's quite an unbelievable story that even I would think is a lie.
  • 5 Hide
    ingtar33 , August 19, 2014 2:26 PM
    Quote:
    Maybe they just want to diversify? Even though I use core i5 myself, I saw my friend's AMD CPU built computer and it is no slouch and didn't cost as much as mine did.

    This is something i've tried to explain to people for 3 years now. I work with top of the line i5s/i7s and even cheepo i3's daily... and i go home to a fx8 core. There really isn't much difference. not that the end user can see anyway.
  • -2 Hide
    SPLWF , August 19, 2014 2:28 PM
    Quote:
    Knowing that OCZ filed for bankruptcy to avoid mass lawsuits regarding the faulty controllers they put into the entire Vertex line, I doubt I'll ever buy anything affiliated with that company. I bought exactly 3 OCZ SSD's between 2012-2013 and all of them failed.
    Funny because I still own a Vertex 30GB and it's still running strong. I also own a Solid 3 60Gb (on my gaming PC running only Skyrim and mods) and and Agility 3 120Gb (in my laptop). All three still running strong with NO problems.
  • 0 Hide
    Bean007 , August 19, 2014 2:35 PM
    Knowing that OCZ is making the SSD's won't bring as many customers in if it was just AMD. I was wondering what every happened to that possible buy out for OCZ. I guess nobody wanted them.
  • 0 Hide
    alidan , August 19, 2014 3:41 PM
    i would put my name on quality products, hell, i would lend it to people who prove to be reliable and a decent deal... this way amd becomes more known, and when people think of a new pc they think of amd, unlike right now where people really only know about intel.
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